The present invention relates, in general, to beverage cans made of metal, such as aluminum or steel, and, more particularly, to a top lid for such beverage cans with an opener integrated sanitary cover, the sanitary cover being attached to the top lid using a locking member and being designed to sanitarily cover the lip contact portion of the top lid using its cover part during storage of the can and to reliably open the top lid without failure using its reinforced opener part.
In order to open and empty a beverage can made of metal, a lever opener, exteriorly attached to the top lid of the can using a locking member, such as a rivet, is levered up, thus breaking an opening piece of the lid along a depressed seam and forming a rounded opening on said lid. Such beverage cans are stored with the top lids being exposed to the atmosphere, and so the lip contact portion defined around the opening piece is regrettably contaminated by dust and other atmospheric impurities. During use of such a can, the lip contact portion, contaminated with such impurities, is bad for one""s health. In an effort to overcome the above problem, a can, with a sanitary suction straw being provided at the can, was proposed. However, the can, with such a suction straw, is problematic in that it is very difficult to produce the can in great quantity, and so the can fails to be produced on a commercial scale.
In order to solve the problems experienced in the typical beverage cans, the inventor of this invention proposed a beverage can with a sanitary cover as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,559, corresponding to Korean Patent Registration No. 141,618. This can may be designed to have three types. That is, the can may have both a sanitary cover means and a lever opener, which are commonly and rotatably attached to the top lid of a can using one rivet, thus sanitarily covering the lip contact portion of the lid and being used for opening the lid, respectively. Alternatively, the sanitary cover may be cast with the lever opener into a single structure while being rotatably attached to the top lid by a rivet. This sanitary cover is thus rotatable between two positions, or a sanitarily covering position and a levering position. As a further alternative, the sanitary cover may be cast with the lever opener into a single structure in a manner similar to that of the second type. However, the sanitary cover of the third type is designed to be levered up at its covering position without being rotated to a separate levering position different from the second type. That is, the sanitary cover of the third type has a U-shaped lever opener part at a position around the rivet, thus effectively opening the lid when it is levered up at the covering position.
The can, with such a sanitary cover, effectively and almost completely overcomes the sanitary problem experienced in the typical beverage cans. However, it has been noted that the can regrettably has the following problems. That is, in the case of the first-type can, it is necessary to separately produce both the sanitary cover and the lever opener and to attach them on the top lid of a can using one rivet. This results in a problem in that it is very difficult to produce such cans in great quantity, and so the can fails to be produced on a commercial scale. In addition, due to the separate lever opener and the sanitary cover, the manufacturing cost of the can is increased. Another problem of the first-type can resides in that it is inconvenient to a user since the user has to separately manipulate the cover and the opener prior to emptying the can. On the other hand, the second-type can is problematic in that the sanitary cover, integrated with the lever opener, has to be rotated from a covering position to a levering position prior to breaking the opening piece along the depressed seam. This is inconvenient to a user and may allow an incorrect operation of the cover while rotating or levering the cover. In the third-type can, the opener integrated sanitary cover is designed to have a lever opener part, which levers down the opening piece of the top lid when the cover is levered up at the covering position to open the lid. However, the lever opener part is free from any reinforcing means, thus having a structural defect failing to effectively break the opening piece along the depressed seam. This allows a user to sometimes fail to open the top lid and results in an inconvenience to the user. In addition, the sanitary cover regardless of the type, disclosed in the above U.S. patent, is designed to almost completely cover the seamed rim until it covers the outside portion of said rim. Due to such a sanitary cover, it is somewhat difficult to produce the can, and so the work efficiency and productivity while producing the can is reduced.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a top lid for beverage cans with an opener integrated sanitary cover, the cover being primarily designed to be levered up at its covering position while opening the lid using its opener part and having a reinforcing means for improving the stiffness of the opener part, thus reliably opening the lid without failure, the cover also having a thumb-operable resilient dome capable of elastically raising a sanitary cover part of the cover over the lid when the dome is pressed down by a thumb, thus allowing a user to easily handle the cover while levering up the cover, the cover also having a reaction means for allowing the resilient dome to more effectively raise the sanitary cover part when the dome is thumb-pressed, and the cover being further designed to have a structure free from disturbing the process of manufacturing the can, thus allowing the can to be effectively produced in great quantity or on a commercial scale.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a top lid for beverage cans with an opener integrated sanitary cover. The sanitary cover, attached to the top lid using a locking member, is designed to reach a seamed rim of the can or a position just inside the interior wall of the seamed rim of the can, or is designed to cover the area around the opening piece defined on the top lid by a depressed seam. The sanitary cover has a thumb-operable resilient dome on its sanitary cover part, thus being elastically raised up at the sanitary cover part when the dome is pressed down by a thumb. In the present invention, the resilient dome may have a hemispherical profile or another profile, such as an angled profile, modified from the hemispherical profile. In order to allow the dome to more reliably perform an elastic reaction, a reaction means is formed on or around the dome. The reaction means for the resilient dome may comprise a reaction rim formed along the outside edge of the dome, a reaction slit formed on the top portion of the dome, or a reaction nipple formed on the top portion of the dome. An opener part, used for pressing down the opening piece and breaking the piece along the depressed seam when the sanitary cover is levered up, is defined on the sanitary cover by a cutting line at an intermediate position between the locking member and the dome. The sanitary cover also has a reinforcing means for improving stiffness of the opener part, thus allowing the opener part to more effectively break the opening piece along the depressed seam without failure.
In order to open and empty a beverage can with the sanitary cover, the resilient dome is primarily pressed down by a thumb with the sanitary cover being not rotated from the covering position. When the dome is pressed down, the sanitary cover is elastically raised up at its cover part due to a reaction force of the dome, thus being spaced apart from the top lid. Therefore, it is easy for a user to grasp and handle the cover when levering up the cover to press down the opening piece using the opener part. When the cover is levered up as described above, the opener part levers down the opening piece, thus breaking the piece along the depressed seam. The above opener part is provided with a reinforcing means, such as a reinforcing rib having a first folded and compact rectangular cross-section, a second reinforcing rib having an arcuate cross-section, or a rugged pattern, thus having an improved stiffness. Therefore, the opener part reliably breaks the opening piece along the depressed seam without failure regardless of an interior pressure acting on the opening piece.
The thumb-operable resilient dome of this invention may be preferably used with a conventional lever opener attached to the top lid. In such a case, the lever opener is elastically raised up when the dome is pressed down by a thumb. Therefore, it is easy for a user to grasp and handle the opener while levering up the opener to open the top lid of the can.
In an embodiment of this invention, a thumb-operable resilient dome is formed on the sanitary cover, while an arcuate cutting line is formed at an intermediate portion of the sanitary cover between the locking member and the dome, thus forming the opener part. In addition, a depressed bending line is formed on the sanitary cover while transversely and linearly extending outwardly from each end of the cutting line to the outside edge of the cover. The sanitary cover is thus bendable along said bending line when the cover is levered up. The above opener part has a reinforcing means, such as a reinforcing rib having a first folded and compact rectangular cross-section, a second reinforcing rib having an arcuate cross-section, or a rugged pattern, thus having an improved stiffness. The opener part thus reliably breaks the opening piece along the depressed seam without failure.
In the present invention, the sanitary cover may be designed to reach the seamed rim of the can. However, it is more preferable to design the sanitary cover to have a compact size reaching a position just inside the interior wall of the seamed rim or covering the area around the opening piece since such a sanitary cover allows the beverage cans to be produced in great quantity or on a commercial scale.
The sanitary cover of this invention may be attached to the top lid using two or more locking members. In addition, it is possible to change the length and width of the sanitary cover in accordance with the designing conditions of the can. The thumb-operable resilient dome may be somewhat freely designed if the dome reliably performs an elastic reaction capable of raising the sanitary cover when the dome is pressed down by a thumb. The configuration and arrangement of the reinforcing ribs formed on the opener part may be freely changed in accordance with the designing conditions of the can, or the interior pressure acting on the opening piece and the size of the can.